Growing Pains
by RainbowItachisAndHajis
Summary: SakuraxAkatsuki; Romance in later chaps. Chapter 5 is up,and if I get a fiew more reviews I'll post chapter 6 too:
1. Sweet Beginnings

**O.k., so here it is: my very first fanfic. Ever. Please review (nicely!), and I will GLADLY accept any and all criticism that you guys give me.=)Everything will be in Sakura's POV, except for the very beginning and a few other select parts.**

**-I.M.B.**

Chapter 1: Sweet Beginings

_Third Person POV:_

"But *_sniff_* Mommy! I *_sniff_* I don't want to go!"

"Sakura," the sniffling child's mother reasoned," You have to go to school, just like everyone else. Besides; you'll make so many friends, and have so much fun, that you won't even want to go home."

"Hey! That's MY toy; give it back, UN!"

Sakura looked up from her drawing to see three fourth graders standing over a…boy?...waving a stuffed fox over the crying child's head.

"And what if we don't want to give it back? What're you gonna' do about it, cry?", the oldest one with a brown buzz cut taunted. Both the short, greasy haired, blond and the chunky red head snorted out bits of laughter.

"That's not nice," a small, squeaky voice softly chided from behind the three tormentors. They slowly turned around, preparing their best death glares for whomever dared to correct them, and…they burst out laughing.

"Yeah, and whatcha' gonna' do about it? Huh, Pinkie?"

That did it. Sakura started trembling in what most would assume to be fear, but what was really an intense rage .There were very few things in the world that really made the small girl's blood boil, and she was now witnessing two of those things: someone was being bullied, and someone had just made fun of her hair.

She can't help it.

She was BORN with this hair.

Where did any one give them the right to make fun of the way she was born?

"Leave. Him. Alone. Now." Sakura enunciated each and every word loudly, slowly, and clearly. (**A/N **Way too many 'ly's …ha-ha. Too many _Lee_s.)

"Yeah, well what if we don't wanna' leave, Shorty? What're you gonna' do? Cr-?"

His words were cut off by Sakura's fist. At first, it looked like nothing had happened, but then a loud _CRACK _resounded threw the surrounding area, accompanied by a girly shriek and a waterfall of blood.

"The *_whimper_* stupid Brat *_sniffle_* broke my fricken' nose!"

All four boys were stunned that such a small girl could do so much damage, let alone with just one hit.

"Y-you're n-not even w-worth our time. Let's g-go g-guys," and with that the three, big, bad, scary, fourth graders ran away from the small, pink haired, kindergartener. (A/N Lolz…the mental image)

Sakura then turned her attention to the stunned boy on the ground. He turned his shining cerulean eye up to look into hear jade ones…wait, eye? As Sakura actually _looked_ at him, she saw that his other eye was covered by his long blond hair that would have reached his shoulders, had he not currently had it pulled up in a ponytail.

"T-thanks, un." He peered up at her, worried that he would say something about his-

"Why do you have a ponytail?" You could almost _see_ the stress tumor that threatened to start forming in his brain.

"Because I like it, un. You got a problem with it?" Although he only saw curiosity in her eyes, he was just waiting for him to start calling him a girl or something, just like everyone else.

"Good. You should keep it. What's your name?" she asked while smiling down at him.

"Deidara. Who're you? I've never seen you before, un."

"I'm Sakura, and this is actually my first day here."

"tch. Well, the rest of your life here is gonna' be miserable. You just pissed off some of the biggest bullies here, un."

"Whatever," she responded while helping him up," I can handle them. Besides, they deserved it. No one messes with MY friends," she replied boldly.

"Oh, well- wait, friend?"

"Yeah, silly!" She glomped him back to the ground. "You're my friend, right?"

"Uh, y-yeah. Of course, un!" He pulled her back up with him.

"Well then, let's go swing!"

_2 months later:_

It was lunch time and, yet again, Shino Auburame (**A/N **Spelling?) sat all alone in the back of the court yard, right next to several sakura (cherry blossom) trees, whispering to beetles.

He didn't _choose _ to sit alone…people just didn't like him because he liked bugs.

"Whatcha' doin'?" Shino jumped at the sound of the happy voice. As he turned to face the girl, he was surprised to see a smiling face, mere inches away from his.

"I was eating lunch," he explained, trying to gauge her reaction. Shino had never seen her before, and he was hoping that maybe, _just this once_, someone wouldn't run away from him and his bugs.

"Oh, okay then. Are you waiting for someone?"

" No. I'm sorry, did you want to sit here? I'll just move then…"

She flicked his nose and pushed him back down.

"Silly. My name's Sakura, who're you? Can I sit with you?"

"O-oh, um, I'm Shino. Y-you can s-sit w-with me if y-you want," he said as she plopped down next to him.

"Why do you always sit alone?" she questioned.

"People don't like me," he deadpanned.

"Why not?"

"I like bugs."

….

….

….

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Huh?" he questioned (oh so intelligently).

"There's nothing wrong with bugs. Who are the idiots that messed with you? I'll show them what happens when you mess with MY friend."

Sakura death-glared at all of the people that were staring at them.

"Well?" she looked at him.

"F-friend?" he stared wide-eyed at her.

"Well, duh. You're my friend! Let's go play!" she exclaimed while jumping up and running towards the swings

"Wait!" He lurched up from his spot in the shade and ran after her.

_She actually wants to play! With ME! And she's a GIRL, too!... A pretty girl…_Shino thought as he ran after her.

Over the next six months, similar situations happened with Naruto Uzumaki (He was being teased for saying "Believe It!" all the time), Sai Uchiha (because of his creepy smile), Tenten Aio (because she looks like Princess Laya), Rock Lee (do I need to say it?), Neji and Hinata Hyuga (their eyes), Kisame Hoshigaki (because he's blue) , and Choji Akimichi ('cause he's 'pudgy').

**Okay, well, I'm ending it there. I promise that the next chapter will be A LOT better. More Akatsuki will come in later, and she's about to go through a MAJOR personality change. I'm pretty sadistic, so I've just **_**got**_** to make sure she's put threw a tragedy soon…Anyway, anyone who reviews gets a virtual cookie! P.S. Aio means blue, right? I don't really know…sorry…**


	2. A Lovers' Quarrel

**HEY! I don't have any good excuses sooo…. ON WITH THE SHOW!**

**DISCLAIMER: Yes. I own Naruto. I am a genius Japanese man, writing Fan Fictions about my own story. I am not a teenage girl living in Alabama. Of course. It's so obvious. **

**p.s. : this chapter is pretty different from the last one, it's not all candy and rainbows. Also, there'll be moderate cursing in this…I tried not to over due it.**

Chapter Two: A Lover's Quarrel 

_5 months ago_

"She's MY daughter, you Bastard!" a shrill voice shrieked into the phone at 8:53p.m. in the middle of the Haruno residence.

"So? I'm her father. I now have everything that she could ever need, not to mention the means of getting whatever she could possibly want; it's quite obvious that I can provide for her better than you and…_that man_…ever could."

"Kotestu is a good man! And he loves Sakura more than you ever did!"

"It's not about _love__**," **_ he spat the word out like trash, "it's about _potential."_

"…Potential? You-" he cut her off (again).

"Yes. Potential. This girl has the potential to become the smartest, most talented person this world has ever seen. She could have _everything,_ no, every_one_ in the palm of her hand. All she has to do is apply herself, something that would never happen should she remain with you."

"That's bullcra-"

"If you continue to fight me on this, I will have no choice but to take her from you. I don't believe you want that, do you…? We both know who has the better lawyers, the stronger case…"

Mrs. Haruno's voice cracked, "B-but they a-always give t-the kids to the m-mom-"

"-unless the father is more fit to raise the child."

"You will _**never**_ have her!"

The line was silent for a moment.

"My lawyers will be in touch."

The line went dead.

Saiyuri Haruno slumped to the floor sobbing; in the hallway, the little eavesdropper had to force herself back into her room, where she spent the rest of the night wide awake.

A lone figure stood by the window of an enormous office, a cell phone pressed against his ear.

"Hello, this is Judge Ferguson's office, how may I help you?"

"Oh, hello Brenda! It's so good to hear from you, but could you put me through to Jim's line?"

The man's cheery voice made the secretary blush, and she was _so_ excited to know that he, _the_ richest man in the _world_, had remembered her name.

"Oh, why y-yes Mister Uchiha, I'll patch you right through!"

*4 to 6 seconds later….*

The shadowy man's voice lost its cheeriness and became serious, "Jim, I was wondering if I could _ask _for a favor…?"

"W-why of course M-madara, anything for an old friend hehe…"

Judge Ferguson's voice was shaky; he'd been waiting (very anxiously) for this call. This was his chance to redeem himself, to make everything better, and to ensure that no more…'unfortunate accidents'.. would happen to himself or his family again.

"Good. I want custody of my child, but her mother thinks she can stand in my way. Now, on the off chance that anyone might actually listen to her, I need to make sure I get this child, no matter _what_ it takes to make that happen. Judge McClarty has been assigned my case, and she doesn't exactly…see things my way. Do you think you can take care of this little problem for me?"

"Y-yes." He cleared his throat, "Of course."

Insults flew across the room, both parties were separated by the large wooden table, but that didn't stop a few of the more hot blooded ones from trying to hit each other. A small, six year old pinkette sunk lower into her seat, trying to block out their screams.

"All of this over a child? Calm yourselves! Act like adults, or the child will be given to the state!"

_My fault…it's all my fault…? They're all fighting over me…?_ _No…I-I don't want this…_

Tiny tears glossed over her big green eyes.

"Order! Order! Mr. Izumo, you will sit down now or be removed!"

Kotestu reluctantly slumped back into his seat, and the Uchiha smirked at him from across the table.

Saiyuri tried reasoning with the judge again, but they all knew it was useless; this case had been decided long before the judge had heard anyone's arguments.

"I've reached my decision. In light of all of the…monetary benefits and the more comfortable lifestyle Mr. Uchiha can provide, he will be given custody of the child."

_Present Day_

The red eyed man growled in annoyance.

"Can't you do anything?" he shouted at the cowering girl; she hung her head in shame.

It'd been going on like this for days; she'd wake up at 5:30, shower, dress, walk down to the basement, and spend the rest of the day with her father screaming equations at her. She got fed bits and pieces of food whenever she solved something, but she still went to bed hungry every night.

When she'd first arrived, she'd thought that living here, in this huge house, with its twelve bedrooms and three playrooms and (e-NORMOUS) library, was going to be fun. When she saw her room (a true Barbie's dream), she imagined staying up watching movies, or snuggling up with a good book, but not this; she'd never, not in her worst nightmares, imagined this.

She snapped out of her reverie and finished picking up the broken plate, ignoring the small cuts across her palms.

"Well there goes your lunch. Here I was, _trying_ to be nice to you, and you ruin it. I swear, of all the ungrateful things anyone's ever done-"

"If you had just let me _eat_ the spaghetti instead of balancing the stupid plate on my head then none of this would have ever happened!" Sakura's shriek vibrated across the cement walls.

Madara looked down at her green eyes to see a spark of defiance.

'_I guess I didn't beat that out of her…'_

He sneered, "Well, if you knew how to politely do what you were told instead of being so repulsively defiant, then I wouldn't have had to do that. You see, this is all your fault, and here you are trying to blame it on me."

_My…fault…?Again…? No…I-I didn't mean to…b-but he-…My fault?_

Sakura's small body began shaking even harder, and she bolted up the stairs and out of the basement.

Madara smirked; this was going to be more fun than he'd thought.

**Okay, so, super duper short chapter, but I have chapter three all written, I'm just editing right now.**

**Reviews are WANTED!**

**I LOVE constructive criticism (my grammer…sucks, and I fail at spelling, so I love the help), but please don't be mean (so far everyone's been really really great, it's just…I was writing this at school and one of the kids in my class read it and said it was crap…).**

**THANK YOU!**


	3. Dustland Fairy Tale

**Omfg. I LOVE y'all's reviews! Points of awesomeness to all of the chapter two reviews, those were REALLY funny (and one was verreh helpful****) **

**ANYWAY-!**

**I do own Naruto and I'm kind of tired of all of these fanficti-oh, erm, never mind… It appears I was mistaken…**

Chapter Three: Dustland Fairy Tale

_Sakura POV_

I ran and ran and ran but I couldn't get away from that awful house; it was too big, and no matter where I went I could still see the roof. My face was hot and sticky and the eye that _that man_ hit ached.

What was going on? Why the heck is this happening to _me_? I haven't done anything- I'm only six!-, so why-…but…what if I did do something? What if…what if I did something SO bad that not even the police wanted me, so they sent me here?

But what could I have-?

"OUCHIE! " How could I have been so _stupid_? I mean, really? Tripping over tree roots that were _right in front of me?_ I hopped back up but had to lean against a tree while the black spots cleared from my eyes.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." Every step I took sent pulses of pain up my leg. My whole right knee, shin, and part of my thigh were all covered in sticky red blood –_ewwie_- and mud.

_Why did I wear shorts today?_

It was only early March and, even though it was a pretty day, it'd rained yesterday so the ground was slippery and the air was chilling. I kept running- a little slower this time, I didn't want another fall- and soon I was slopping through thicker mud, and then a small stream, then I was in a full blown creek.

_Well, I might as well wash off. _I pulled off my pink tank top and then my-now brown-shorts (my flip flops had fallen off somewhere back at the hou-mansion). Right when I started scooping the (cold!) water onto my leg, I heard a sniffle.

I froze (like my feet had ten minutes ago *-_-) and whipped my head around, searching for the offender.

…

THERE! I heard it again! I threw my clothes back on and started running again, only to burst into a clearing. I froze- again- and looked around to see…nothing. Huh. I guess I imagined it.

I started walking around the clearing, slowly this time, brushing my hands against all of the little boulders- did I mention this mansion's in the mountains?- and dragging my feet against the soft grass. The clearing turned out to be a lot bigger than I'd thought, and the boulders seemed to form a sort of maze, getting larger as it went on.

I weaved in and out of the boulders, now unable to see over them. Rounding a corner I heard pounding footsteps coming close-BAM.

I slammed into the ground and looked up at the mass of person struggling to sit up-while still sitting on me, I might add.

"Uh..hey…" he couldn't have been much older than me, now that I got a good look at him. "Could you…erm..get off?"

He peered down at me through his thick dark brown bangs, and I could see the fresh tear tracks smudged across his face.

"O-oh! Yeah, sure sorry!" His face turned tomato-red and he scrambled off of me.

I hauled myself up –OUCH! AGAIN!- , "I'm Sakura!"

My excitement over meeting a new person faltered as more pain bloomed across my cheek and eye, and I realized why I hadn't seen him coming: my left eye was almost swollen shut.

The little boy- well, taller than me, but still little- gasped and was invading my personal bubble again within seconds.

"What happened to you eye? Are you okay? Do you need help? Why are you out here all alone?" My head spun as he fired off question after question, and I decided it's be a good time to plop back down.

"Okay. First of all, what's your name? Second of all, it doesn't matter what happened to me, why were you crying?"

The boy **(I'm getting sick of typing that) **stood stunned for a second, and then, in an almost-whisper said, "You really want to know? About _me_?" He said 'me' with so much self-hate that I felt like hugging him, but he was still standing.

" 'Course. Now: sit down, tell me your name, and then tell me what happened." He obediently sat beside her and simply said 'Tobi', as if that explained everything.

We sat in silence for a few minutes- Tobi with his head down, me staring at him-, then a few more tears slid down his face and he started standing up, already turning to walk away.

"Hey!" I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back down and into a tight hug.

"Now twell me whah happened." My voice was all muffle-ey because my face was buried in his sweatshirt.

"…I fell."

"Bull crap."

My voice got _reaaally_ sharp (like Mommy's 'no-nonsense' voice) and Tobi's head jerked up. "W-what?"

"Sakura's Pet Peeve's, number three: lying." My voice softened again when I saw the look in his eyes, "'so don't do it anymore, 'kay?"

He smiled a tiny, nearly imperceptible, smile, "Okay. I…I live in that big castle, and my Uncle's always so angry with me; I've always been the family mess up. They all hate me…they say I should just disappear, that no one would remember me, and they always call me mean names like '_Stupid'_ or '_Retard_' or-or something else. No one ever says my name, so I say my own name-ya' know, to remind them?- but then they just call me even_ meaner_ names a-and I-I don't know what to do…"

_So That Man hurts other kids too… _I stared down at him for awhile.

_Someone has to do something…someone has to protect him…I..I have-no. I WILL protect him._

"…Tobi?"

"Hmm?"

"Make me a promise. Make me a promise that you'll never let anyone else see you hurt."

"W-what do you mean, Sakura?" He really looked at her- long wavy pink hair, bright green eyes (the swelling was going down), and something…else. There was just something else.

"I mean, all of those people do those things to make you sad, so if you act happy, they should leave you alone. And you wanna know a secret?"

He nodded his head and leaned closer as I whispered, "You're too awesome for them anyway. They're stupid, so you shouldn't let them get to you; they're not worth it."

Tobi was…speechless. Someone cared. About _him._ The Uchiha failure; the weak link, the black sheep, the outcast.

"I swear."

I smiled my biggest smile- ignoring my face's protests- and hugged gim again. "Okay! Ummm…ooh! Let's start a club! It can be a Besties Only club, and we can meet here and play games and talk and when we're older, we'll run away together!"

Tobi blushed at the 'implications' (she was only six, and he was eight, but still; he knew what 'running away together' implied), "I'd love t-"

"Tobi." That cold voice, spoken with the coldness that only a Uchiha possesses, echoed across the boulders.

"Y-y-yes…Itachi-senpai?"

**Le-gasp! Betcha didn't see THAT one coming. Anyway, I like the direction this is going. I'll try to update soon, but with school and track and church and work…I'm a very busy person D: **

**I tried to apply the (very insightful) criticism, and I hope it's a little better. Did you like the whole 'Sakura-pov' thing? I normally don't write in first person so…tell me what you prefer. **

**REVIEW! Thanks for reading! **


	4. Follow The Leader

Follow The Leader:

_Sakura Pov: _

"Tobi, return to the house immediately."

"B-but Itachi-senpai, I-"

"Immediately means now, Tobi."

I watched as Tobi began walking back to the main house, too afraid to say anything that would stop him from leaving.

"And you" I froze as Itachi rounded on me "Return to Madara-san's home; he is tired of waiting on you."

His voice was final and he apparently expected me to bow down to his holiness or whatever and just do as he said. Well. He obviously didn't know who he was talking to.

"No; I most certainly will _not_ go back to that bastard's house."

I wasn't entirely sure what the word bastard meant, but I'd heard Mommy call him that before and if that's what she said he was, then that's what he was.

This Itachi kid stopped walking with a jerk, probably shocked that I'd dared to defy his mighty self.

He angled his head to look back at me, not even exerting the effort to completely turn himself.

"You will do as I say, one way or the other. Now, come. I shall escort you myself."

Again, he started walking away expecting me to follow him.

"Well, I guess we're gonna have to do this the other way, because there's no way I'm goin anywhere with-"

SMACK

I hadn't even seen him move, and at first I didn't feel the slap to my cheek. Without a word he scooped me up in his arms and slung me over his shoulder; I grunted as my ribs collided with his hard shoulder.

"H-hey! Put me down you, you…jerk! You can't just man handle me like this!"

I struggled and tried to kick him for a while before I realized how tired I was, and how heavy all my limbs felt. My head started sagging against his back, and before I knew it I'd fallen asleep.

*T~I*M~E*S~K*I~P*

I woke up on a super soft bed with plain black sheets and looked around the un-familiar room.

The walls were navy blue, the floors a plain dark wood, and the only furniture was a black dresser, a large black book shelf, and the black bed I was laying on. I sat up and realized that I was wearing an oversized T-shirt, and all of my cuts had been cleaned and bandaged.

I scooted off the bed, shivering when my feet hit the cold floor, and started out the door; there was no way I was just gonna sit in some random person's room and wait to get taken back to that man's house.

I crept down the insanely long cream colored hallway, wincing whenever the floor creaked. After walking for a few minutes, I found two flights of stairs…now to decide whether to go up or down.

…

Down the rabbit hole it is.

The stairs led to another hallway, and after walking halfway down that I found a doorway that split off into a large kitchen.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where my stomach betrayed me. My stomach growled and I decided to risk rummaging through the kitchen for some food that would sustain me until I found my way out of this goddamned maze of a house.

I was leaning down looking at all of the cereal bars in one of the lower cabinets when I heard a small gasp followed by a thump.

I jerked around to look behind me and found a shocked, wide eyed kid. He looked like he was about my age, with black eyes and black hair that swooped up in the back.

"…Er…what's up duck butt?"

His expression quickly morphed from one of shock to outrage and anger; I _really_ needed to start thinking before I talked.

"How dare you call me that you…you…thief!"

Oh, no, he did_ not _just go there. I may be a lot of things, but I was not a gosh darned thief; I mean, it's not like I asked to get kid napped and left alone in a freezing room without any food.

"Hey, kid, I am not a thief! I was kidnapped, and I needed some food to help me escape this madhouse."

He scowled, and if I hadn't been so mad I might've admitted it was kinda cute.

"My name is_ Sasuke_, not _kid_. And why would anyone want to kidnap some massive forehead freak like you?"

My face went red and I had to remind myself people would definitely notice my epic-ninja-escape if I beat the crap outta him.

"I don't know, some jerk named Itachi decided to treat me lika potato sack and drag me here. Infact, I'm leaving right now."

I tried to side step him but he moved in front of me. I huffed, "Look, do you want me to leave or not?"

His frown deepened.

"What I want is for you to stop lying; there's no way my big brother would kidnap someone. You must have done something bad, so he brought you here to make sure you wouldn't do it again."

"Argh, you're obviously never gonna believe me, so just get out of my way, alright?"

A deep, dark and heartless chuckle echoed across the room.

Our heads snapped to the door and my blood ran cold. A tall, tan man with long and spiky hair leaned against the door frame. A nervous looking woman and an impassive man stood behind him. The woman seemed to be in her forties and was pretty, with long black hair and tiny smile-wrinkles. The man had deep set wrinkles around his eyes and shoulder length hair that curled at the end.

I hated them all.

"Uncle Madara!" Sasuke ran up to that awful man with a ridiculous smile on his face.

"Did you bring me presents?"

The woman's face immediately turned chastising, "Sasuke! Don't be rude!"

That man chuckled again, and I shuddered.

"Don't worry Mikoto, the boy's done nothing wrong." He turned his attention to Sasuke, "Sorry Sasuke, but no presents this time. I'm here to collect my daughter, Sakura. She wandered out of the house and must have gotten lost; thankfully Itachi found her before she could get too hurt."

It was then that I noticed Itachi's face peeking out behind all of the old people's bodies, and I death glared at him as full heartedly as I possibly could.

Madara then straightened form the door frame and turned his attention to me.

"Come along Sakura. It's time to leave; you've caused more than enough trouble for Fugaku and his family." His voice could have been pleasant, but his eyes were as icy and terrifying as they'd been in that basement.

He turned on his heel and swept past the three in the door way; I was again expected to follow. This time I knew better than to refuse.

Mikoto called Sasuke to her, and with one last glance at me they left the room. Fugaku said something to Itachi who nodded before Fugaku left as well.

I grudgingly made my way to the door way, stopping when I was next to Itachi.

"I hope you're happy; he's gonna kill me as soon as we're gone."

For less than a second I thought I saw a flash of remorse in his eyes before they were hard and uncaring again.

"Hn."

And then I walked away, down the hallway around the corner and out the door where He was waiting for me. To think, I'd been so close to escaping, and yet here I was, following the lion back to his den.


	5. I Had A Dream

I Had A Dream

_I had a dream/ It was lasting/ it lasted the whole next day/ I dreamt you had left me/ And when I awoke the mirror said to me 'Maybe it's true, it could be true'_

I slowly cracked my eyes open; the light burned.

Ignoring the pounding in my head I slowly sat up but quickly laid back down when an overwhelming wave of nausea slammed into me.

I decided to just roll onto my torn up back and inspect my injuries. I would've done it before but for the past week (at least, I think it'd been a week. It was impossible to tell time in this basement) He'd been here, always, and every time I'd woken up he'd start beating me again.

I ran my hands up and down my mangled arms and legs. Every part of my body was either bruised, swollen, split open, or a combination of the three. I ached all over: my wounds stung, every cut and gouge reopened when I moved. My back felt like it was on fire, partially because I was laying on it, but mainly because Madara had poured something on it (after he'd gone over every inch of it with a razor blade) that made me screamed.

I was pretty tough (well, very, for a six year old), but I'd broken down after that. I screamed and cried, begging for him to stop, for him to just leave me_ alone_.

He never did.

My eyes had gotten used to the glare of the fluorescent lights, and I was finally able to sit up without feeling like I was gonna puke. I looked around the room to make sure he wasn't just hiding somewhere; he'd already done that once, and I knew better than to assume I was safe.

I got up and shifted my eyes to the narrow stairs that were in the corner of the room, escape once again being so close but so impossible. He could be waiting. He could start again. But then again, if he had planned to beat me to death, he wouldn't have decorated that huge, insanely pink room, nor would he have bought all of the books and school equipment that filled the basement.

Alright. Time to be brave and get outta this crappy basement.

I crept up the stairs, and peeked my head out of the door and into the servant's kitchen. Finding it bustling in preparation for what looked like (a yumtastic) dinner I was able to navigate around all of the adults and was almost out of the kitchen when a warm voice sounded right behind me.

"Well I never-! Young lady, what happened to you? Come with me, I'll fix you right up. Oh, Clide!"

An elderly man, Clide I guess, popped out from the pantry.

"Yesm'm?"

"Fix this here little lady some food and bring it to my room please."

"Right away mam!" He scuttled off somewhere, seeming happy to take orders from the lady who'd taken the liberty of grabbing my hand.

I turned my attention to said lady as she dragged me down a hallway opposite the way I'd been going, all the while ranting about what an awful state I was in.

She had long brown hair pulled into a braid that trailed down her back, slightly tanned skin, and she wore a knee length plain white dress covered by a navy blue apron. She looked young, but also seemed pretty established judging by the way people regarded her when we'd passed them, so I guessed she was somewhere in her late twenties or early thirties.

We stopped in front of an unimpressive, plain wooden door and I realized we'd crossed into the servant's living quarters and were in another long hallway filled with identical doors. We entered the room and I was more than a little surprised to find that it was a bright turquoise color with dark purple furniture and a string of white lights attached to the perimeter of the ceiling.

I loved it, more than either of the Barbie pink rooms Madara or my mother had painted for me.

She sat me down in a purple Victorian looking chair with a black cushion and walked over to a dresser, pulling out a large first aid kit.

"My name's Lena, by the way. Sorry to just drag you off like that, but you looked more than a little lost, and you're all torn up so…yeah! I'm the kitchen manager and servants' doctor."

I mumbled a "hello" while she pulled the oversized t-shirt (or what was left of it) off of me and began washing my back arms and stomach off with a wet washcloth.

"So." She was so cheery, totally ignoring me ignoring her. "Whose kid are you? I tell Solomon, he's the overall servant manager, and he'll take care of them."

"M-my father is…uh…John..Smith..ington…" Damn my stuttering; I really needed to get better at lying if I was gonna be lawyer.

She eyed me dubiously. "Uh huh. Let's try your real dad's name this time, alright?"

I sighed, "Alright…his name is Madara, Madara Uchiha."

The hands that had been swiftly bandaging my limbs froze, and Lena's sparkling eyes filled with panic.

"U-uchiha-sama is your…_father_? Did…did _he _do this to you?"

The shyness I thought I'd grown out of returned with a vengeance and I hid my red face in my behind my bangs.

"I-I'm sorry, I should've told you, but it was my own fault, so I didn't see the point in taddleing. Thank you for your help, I'll just go-"

I made to get up but she pulled me to her and hugged me tight against her chest.

Something hot and wet was running down my face, and I realized she was crying, her tears overflowing onto me.

"This wasn't your fault, trust me honey. No child, especially one as sweet as you deserves something like this. That man is an abomination."

I fiercely wiped at my eyes and tried to distract myself by talking.

"Why d-do you work for him if you hate him so much?" She scowled at my question.

"My family owes him a lot of money, and it was either this or my parents would have had to sell their home. I couldn't make them do something like that; they've lived in that house for the past fifty years. So I came here-but that's beside the point. I'm calling social services, they'll take care of this."

I started to panic. I didn't know a ton of stuff about the law (yet), but I'm pretty sure "calling social services" implied moving, which implied leaving Tobi and Lena, too, and while I hated Madara with all my heart I just couldn't leave them.

"N-no don't!"

She glanced down at me in surprise before cautiously asking, "You…want to…stay here? And have _this_-" she gestured to my broken body, "-happen again?"

I looked at her seriously and said in my steadiest voice, "No. I don't want to stay here…but I have to. I made a promise to someone very important to me that I would never leave him, and I can't break that promise; if I left this place I'd be leaving him, too."

She looked thoughtful for a moment, then she nodded to herself and set me back on the chair, resuming the task of bandaging me.

"Does…does that mean I can stay? You won't call social services?" I tentatively asked.

She narrowed her eyes at me but nodded an affirmative anyway, and I smiled at her.

"Good…now, could I interest you in joining our secret fantastical Besties Only club?"

Her uneasy expression broke and she chuckled.

"It depends," she said, "who're the other members of this club?"

"Well…right now, it's just me, Tobi, and you…?" It came out as a question, one that she answered with a happy yes.

From then on whenever Tobi or I got hurt Lena would patch us up. She didn't ask any more questions about how we got hurt, and we didn't volunteer anything either. Besides that, we told each other everything; Lena was actually only 24. She'd graduated culinary school a year before and had only been working for the Uchihas for a few months. Ironically, her family had borrowed money from the Uchihas to put her through school, which had landed her here.

Funny how the world screws people over like that, right?

We went on like that, happily, all together in our Besties Only club for a few months.

Then my birthday came.

We'd all known Madara knew what we'd been doing, but we had figured he'd let us be friends for so long that he just didn't care. On the night of my birthday I was going to have two parties: one was a huge ball with 300 of my father's "closest friends" (more like stuffy business associates he was trying to impress), and one with Tobi and Lena in the boulder maze Tobi and I had first met in.

Father (he'd told me to stop referring to him as Madara) made me wear this ridiculous red ball gown, and my long pink hair was pinned up in a bun with lots of pins and barrettes that pulled at my scalp.

The party itself wasn't bad, but it was boring. I hadn't eaten any of the "delicacies" being served to impress Father's associates (How a snail could impress anyone was beyond me), and I decided to pop into the kitchen and ask Lena for a sand which. I was halfway down the servants' stairs when I heard muffled shouting and what sounded like a slap.

I crept down to the door but stopped when I heard Father's demanding voice.

"She is _my_ child, and you are _my _employee. You will not interfere with her anymore, understood?"

My body sagged as I realized that Lena would have to agree, but I straightened in surprise as she said, "If by interfering, you mean saving her life and giving her the attention a child deserves, then no, I will not stop. And you have no right to call yourself a father when you abuse her, and force your staff to be cruel towards her."

For a moment, I was shocked, and happy, and so, so proud of Lena for standing up to someone as awful as my father. For a moment, I truly thought he would concede, and let me keep one of the two things that made my life worth living. And for that one, blissful moment, I thought things would be okay.

My moment was shattered when I heard a loud crack, followed by a quiet thud, then silence. I cracked the door just enough to peak through, but immediately wished I hadn't; Lena was lying on the floor with blood spilling from her head, and Father was standing over her, breathing hard, holding a blood covered crystal vase.

I was completely numb, terrified stiff, but somehow aware enough to hear my Father on the phone.

"Zabuza, I have a body that needs taking care of in the lower West kitchens…..Yes, bury her on the guest estate, I don't want you digging around my gardens."

With that he swiftly walked towards the door I'd been listing through, and swept past my shadow-hidden form looking completely calm.

'_I had a dream/ It was lasting/ It lasted the whole next day/ I dreamt you had left me/ And when I awoke the mirror said to me, 'Maybe it's true/ I'm leaving you'_


End file.
